We had a curb adapter with a "Time Specific Delivery" going to Finley, OH. We pro-actively track these shipments. On a routine call the day before, we found the curb was still at the truck terminal at 3PM and was not going to be delivered the next morning as promised. The trucking company told us not to worry; they were not going to charge us for the delivery and would get it there in a couple of days.

We do what we've always done. We first looked for a sleeper crew that could pick up the curb right away and get on the road. Within 30 minutes of calling all over town, we realized with the weather (it was January with snow on the roads and in the forecast) we were not going to find a trucking company to do the job last minute. What at first glance looked like the impossible turned out to be another opportunity to Go the Extra Mile for our customer.

We rented a trailer at the local rental center, hooked it up to Pat O'Brien's pick up truck, and went over to the truck terminal and picked up the curb. While that was happening we recruited two volunteers from CDI's team to take turns driving all night from Minneapolis to Finley, OH. We arrived with time to spare for the 8AM crane lift!

Here's Marty's version of our "Going the Extra Mile" Story.

"I sold a retrofit project to Perkins Restaurants, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN area. The adapter curbs I purchased from another vendor were incorrect and would require significant work to make them fit. Perkins' field supervisor was unhappy with the curbs I'd sent, and recommended I contact another vendor to get this problem fixed immediately. CDI responded in their usual fashion—Positive attitude, good communication and fast, quality service. Within less than a day, CDI had the curbs finished (at a better price than I'd paid before), and delivered them directly to the jobsite for us at no charge. This is the kind of relationship we desire with our customers! I've learned a lot from Pat's way of serving us."

We got a call from a customer looking for three 70 ton pitch curbs with a solid bottom. Her original plan was to get the curbs from Micro Metals. However she was told the earliest shipment date possible was three weeks! Not accepting this as her only option she called to see how quickly we could get these for her. Being July she was expecting us to say 10-15 days. We said "If you need them now we will build them right away and ship them out." The curbs were built and shipped the next day. Our shop stepped up to the plate and several of our guys put in 14 hours that day. We loaded the curbs at 7:00PM on two flatbeds and went home exhausted yet elated that we were able to go the extra mile for another customer.

We received a call about a curb that was missing with Carrier West. Within 30 minutes of starting our investigation we discovered the trucking company had it on the wrong truck and going to the wrong location. The adapter was needed for a next day lift. CDI immediately manufactured a new curb at no cost and shipped it via air freight to Colorado for an installation the next day as scheduled.

We received a call on a Friday in early July asking if we would be interested in doing a project for the Cincinnati Mills Mall. We said absolutely! Habegger said "How soon can you get here?" Jim was on the job site on Monday, which is when we discovered that the curbs were for 90 ton units. They needed four curbs to be shipped by the end of the week. They wanted the other 33 units on a delivery schedule over two and half more weeks.

Jim flew back to CDI with all the dimensions and we went right to work figuring out how to fit these into an already busy July production schedule. On Friday the first four 90 ton curbs were shipped on schedule. Then over the next two and a half weeks the remaining 33 curbs shipped on schedule. Every curb was delivered to the job site and installed on time and in perfect condition.

When the customer asked Jim how he did that, he replied "My job is to make it look like magic."

Lindsay Darchuck called from TEC. She ordered the wrong curb from another manufacturer and as a result her customer was extremely upset with her. She needed an adapter ASAP. CDI built the curb adapter she needed the same day without a PO. Her customer received the curb the next day and Lindsay called to say she couldn't thank us enough for bailing her out of a tight spot. About a week later we received the PO. We use Principles not policies to run our business.

Koch Air called at lunch time in a bit of a panic. They just received a 65 ton curb adapter from another manufacturer and it was completely wrong. They needed a new adapter ASAP. We told them CDI can do it. Around 2:00PM the verification came through. We started production around

We found a driver with a flatbed but the driver needed to sleep before he got back on the road. We recruited a few "volunteers" to come back to the shop around 10:00PM that night to load the curb. The adapter was delivered the next day and another customer said "How'd you do that?"

We had two curbs going overnight to Indianapolis. Our customer was then going to have the curbs picked up and delivered via courier the same day in Cincinnati. We knew this was a time sensitive delivery so we proactively monitored the shipment. The next morning we tracked the shipment and found that it was in Toledo, OH and not Indianapolis! Our customer had paid $400 to have the courier standing by to deliver the curb to Cincinnati. CDI now had a great opportunity to do the right thing and go the extra mile. Rather than look for someone to blame, CDI jumped in and paid for a courier to pick up the curb in Toledo and drive it directly to the job site in Cincinnati. We made the customers day.